The development of Drupal version 8 began in March 2011. Since then, all developers around the world have been eagerly awaiting the results of this new version, features, API execution, code cleanup, speed optimization, beta version and launch of the final version.
Drupal 8.0.0 was released in November 2015, and since then many patches have been made, each month new releases, until today with stable version v 8.2.7 which dates from March 15, 2017. There are more 200 new features compared to version 7 that you should not ignore!
Drupal 8 Backend which is powered by “Symfony 2”, with a lighter and faster kernel, offers much more functionality for modules and themes. With this big change, the migration curve of Drupal 8 has dropped. All these enormous changes are pushing users to switch to Drupal 8.
Here are the 8 features of Drupal 8 that you should not ignore
1) A new template engine
Twig is the brand-new Template engine that Drupal 8 has included. This new template engine is based on PHP is flexible enough, fast and completely secure. This is good news for developers, now they can develop a Drupal website with more creative and more functional freedom thanks to Twig, these models are written with a less complex syntax compared to PHP models, they are also more secure than others.
This is one of the best features and benefits that will make you choose Drupal.
2) From Mobile-First from the Get-Go
All Drupal themes are mobile compatible, which means they can fit on all types of mobile screens without any problems. There is a “Back” button to return to the first page. This new administration toolbar works well on all types of mobile devices. This is a second reason for choosing Drupal.
3) More powerful HTML5
Whenever it comes to writing web code, it’s best to create it with HTML5. Drupal 8 also uses a standard, which gives you full access to email entry fields, phone numbers … Etc. This is one of the best Drupal features that you should not ignore. In addition, it allows the website to be more functional and compatible with mobile and handheld computers.
4) Multilingual support
Drupal has some features that are ready to be used as multilingual, making it the first choice of developers. The administration interface has an integrated translation. The Drupal community has taken steps to automate translation updates.
5) Quick change
This is another very good Drupal features that you should not ignore. Drupal allows you to make changes directly and quickly. This feature of Drupal 8 set up for editing fields allows you to modify the contents directly, make corrections or quick additions as soon as access to your administrative interface in Drupal.
6) Integrated Web Services
Now you can use Drupal as a data source by itself, and with content like JSON or XML. In addition, you can send data to Drupal from the Front-end. Drupal now offers Hypertext Application Language (HAL) which makes operating Web services easier. You can therefore interface your website with any other tool using these communication technologies, such as CRM or ERP.
7) Loading speed
One of the main improvements expected, Drupal 8 uses a cache that stores all the entities and only loads JavaScript whenever necessary. Therefore, each time a page is displayed, Drupal does not reload it each time. The content shown above is quickly loaded from the cache, which dramatically increases the speed of the website under Drupal. Once configured and activated, the cache is fully automatic and configurable as required.
8) Automated JavaScript Tests
Since the Drupal 8.1 version, the system now provides automated JavaScript testing. Now, software testers can test the “JS Frontend” automatically. This automated test saves a lot of time for developers, which greatly facilitates integration.
Conclusion
We have introduced some new essential features of Drupal 8 that you should not ignore, but there are more than 200 in total. These features give you several reasons to switch to Drupal 8. This platform is the result of the collective work of more than 3000 contributors and the work will continue so that all the optional modules are also functional on this new version.
You will be able to download the last stable version on the official page of the Drupal project.
